Sleeping Naked Is Green

Regular readers of this site may remember Vanessa Farquharson, a reporter at Canada's climate-denying, right-of-the-WSJ National Post, who from March, 2007 to March, 2008 made one green change in her life every day, and blogged about it at Green as a Thistle. Now, like every green blogger, she has produced a dead tree version, Titled "Sleeping Naked Is Green " and subtitled " How an Eco-Cynic Unplugged Her Fridge, Sold Her Car, and Found Love in 366 Days."

The blog was fun; Vanessa writes well and has a great sense of humour. She put it all in perspective in one of my favourite posts:

People shouldn't feel as though they have to choose between living out the rest of their days in a hippie commune in the middle of a hemp crop with a composting toilet and living in a stylish urban condo with his and hers sinks. There's a big grey area in the green sphere, and so the most sensible thing to do is to simply be aware of what you eat, drink, wear, use and do on a regular basis, then decide what can be reduced and what can't, without obsessing over it.

Photo by Kelly Rossiter

I can't really review this book, for a number of reasons; I have become friends with Vanessa and wrote a blurb for the jacket:

One step a day doesn't seem like much, but over the course of a whole year it adds up to a world of difference. This isn't just a well-written and fun book about going green, it is about watching a personal transformation. Being inspired was never so entertaining.

Farquharson's rather dry and sometimes sardonic sense of humor combined with a wonderful storytelling instinct makes her book more than just a "how to" guide or checklist; it is a personal journal/journey; informative and interesting in turns, and always amusing. I often felt like we were friends, sitting in a coffee shop and talking about a variety of topics from how to save the environment without smelling bad to looking for love....

This humorous book provides an accessible and realistic look into one woman's struggle to make personal lifestyle changes that benefit her community and her world. Even though this book originally was published as a series of blog entries, this is the first example of a book that I've read that successfully makes that magical leap from blog to book.